I am pleased to learn that Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) is organizing Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM 2019), first of its kind in the Nepalese tourism history. The Mart will be a memorable trendsetter in showcasing new tourism products and destination development of Nepal. Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Gautam Buddha will be promoted as the gateway and the first stopover in the Buddhist circuit. I am delighted to know BITM has the theme “Explore the Buddhaland: A Gateway to Buddhist Circuits”. The theme will definitely help to promote Lumbini as the first and foremost pilgrimage amongst all the Buddhist sites. The Mart will be a milestone in unfolding the spiritual tourism and pilgrimage tourism in and around Buddha’s historical places. While exploring Buddha’s land, it will be interesting to visit Maya Devi, Ramgram, Kudan, Kapilvastu; places that are related to the life of Lord Buddha. I wish NATTA every success in its initiation and hope it will continue the Mart in the days ahead. I would also like to thank Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board, NATTA and all tourism related organizations for their collective effort in making BITM 2019 a great success.

I would like to extend my best wishes to NATTA and NTB for conducting this Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM 2019) with the theme of Explore the Buddhaland: A Gateway to Buddhist Circuit. I wish entire team for their collective effort in bringing the Buddhist International Travel Mart in action, which highlights the Buddhist sites of Nepal spreading the message that Nepal is center for world peace. It will definitely create the op-portunity for the niche market of spiritual and pilgrimage tourism in Nepal and will help to expand the new travel products. I do expect it will create awareness to develop Lumbini as the first pilgrimage spot to start Buddhist Circuits in and around the Buddhist destinations in Asia, a gateway to Buddhist circuits. My special thanks to staff of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Ne-pal Tourism Board, Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents together with all pioneer tourism - related stakeholders, travel - related Government, Non-Gov-ernment, Semi-Government and international organizations for providing their support and assistance in this BITM 2019 Campaign.

I am pleased to learn that Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) is bringing out a special issue of souvenir on Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM 2019), first of its kind in the Nepalese tourism history. The Mart will be a memorable trendsetter in showcasing new tourism products and destination development of Nepal. Lumbini, the birth place of Lord Gautam Buddha will be promoted as the gateway and the first stopover in the Buddhist circuit. I am delighted to know BITM has the theme “Explore the Buddhaland: A Gateway to Buddhist Circuits”. The theme will definitely help to promote Lumbini as the first and foremost pilgrimage amongst all the Buddhist sites. The Mart will be a milestone in unfolding the spiritual tourism and pilgrimage tourism in and around Buddha’s historical places. While exploring Buddha’s land, it will be interesting to visit Maya Devi, Ramgram, Kudan, Kapilvastu; places that are related to the life of Lord Buddha. I wish NATTA every success in its initiation and hope it will continue the Mart in the days ahead. I would also like to thank Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nepal Tourism Board, NATTA and all tourism related organizations for their collective effort in making BITM 2019 a great success.

I am delighted and honored to welcome distinguished delegates, guests, prominent media persons, travel entrepreneurs and venerable monks in the First Buddhist International Travel Mart in Lumbini- birthplace of Lord Buddha from January 10-12, 2019. The core objective of Buddhist International Travel Mart is to promote Lumbini as the prime Buddhist heritage and pilgrimage site providing a platform for international travel and tourism entrepreneurs to exchange creative ideas about their business, to discuss about the changing pattern of doing business and to promote their business in a conducive environment. In this context, I would like to assert that Lumbini is the starting point of Buddhist circuit and expect that everyone follows it when doing Buddhist pilgrimage. It is a top spiritual destination offering life time experiences full of spiritualism and a higher world beyond material realization. The idea behind BITM is also to showcase the hidden treasures of Nepal that have not been fully exposed to international tourism and travel industry. Apart from this, Nepal’s brand as a country of Himalaya offers diversified life time experiences in terms of adventure, culture, religion, nature, language and so on. I wish grand success of the program and hope that our distinguished guests will have very memorable stay in Nepal. Let peace prevail upon everyone.

It gives me immense pleasure to extend our warmest welcome all the distinguished international delegates, speakers, panelist, buyers, bloggers, print media, online media, and television channel from round the globe especially from Asia & Europe together with all the valuable representatives from Tourism organizations, buyers, sellers and local participants in the Buddhaland, Lumbini, Nepal to make the first ever Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM 2019) with the theme “Explore the Buddhaland: A Gateway to Buddhist Circuits” a resounding success. We also welcome all the honored participants and delegates from Tourism fraternity and venerable Monks, scholars and participants with spiritual hearts from different parts of the Buddhist world. I have very strong conviction that this 1st Buddhist International Travel Mart (BITM2019) will go a long way to give us all many memorable spiritual and tourism activities and indelible experiences to carry back home. Availing of this opportunity I also would like to invite you all to participate in the 2nd edition of BITM next year. This historic & first ever occasion is sure to mark its glory because of the gracious presence and encouragement of our Chief Guest Right Honorable Prime Minister Mr. K. P. Sharma Oli. We appreciate your magnanimity and thank you with gratitude for your kind presence at this historic congregation.

I am extremely happy to present this special souvenir published on the occasion of Buddhist International Travel Mart 2019. The concept of bringing out a souvenir to mark the Buddhist International Travel Mart was conceived with an aim of highlighting Explore the Buddhaland, a gateway to Buddhist Circuits, so that the Buddhist philosophy can spread throughout the world. The souvenir consists of brief history of NATTA and tourism related articles covering various BITM speakers profile and importance of BITM and B2B events. The souvenir also contains MoUs signed by NATTA with other organizations and institutions for mutual partnership in the promotion of tourism, some reminiscences of NATTA history through images, and some promotional pictures highlighting Nepal’s rich resources for Buddhism. As the chair of implementing organization of this mega event, I express my sincerest gratitude to Hon. Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Mr. Rabindra Adhikari), Secretary of the Ministry of Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation, CEO of Nepal Tourism Board, President and Vice President of UFTAA Office Bearers. I express my gratitude to all the tourism related partner associations for their invaluable supports. Many thanks to the writer of the articles for their scholarly and enlightened write-ups. I am grateful to the airlines, corporates, banks, and travel agencies for their support and advertisement in the Souvenir. I am thankful to all the sponsorships extended for BITM event to make it a grand success.